by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:55 PM ET, Fri September 28, 2018
Hyatt Hotels has announced that it will add nine additional hotels to its inventory in Africa by the end of 2020 in response to the continent's increasingly favorable business climate and heightened tourism spend.
The new properties will include the first dual-branded Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels on the continent, the return of the Hyatt brand to Cairo, and the introduction of new Park Hyatt and Hyatt Regency hotels in Morocco. There will also be Hyatt hotels in three entirely new countries - Algeria, Ethiopia and Senegal.
Hyatt's expansion comes in response to what has been widely viewed as an increasingly improved business climate in Africa as well as a burgeoning tourism industry.
According to the UNWTO Tourism Highlights: 2018 Edition, international tourist arrivals in sub-Saharan Africa grew by 5.8 percent between 2005 to 2017, which is well above the global average of 4.2 percent.
In addition, the continent saw a sustained growth of 8.6 percent in international tourist arrivals last year.
Domestic travel is also expected to grow in response to what's known as the Single African Air Travel Market (SAATM) initiative, which was launched earlier this year. It is believed that SAATM will fuel demand for mid-market options in the continent's bustling centers and regional hubs such as Nairobi, Lagos, Addis Ababa, and Johannesburg.
In addition, travel data company Forward Keys has stated long-haul international flights to Nairobi have grown by eight percent as businesses take advantage of the recent multi-million- dollar expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and newly announced routes from Amsterdam, Paris, London, and Accra.
"At last year's Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), Hyatt set a goal to bring Hyatt-branded hotels to Kenya and we are delighted to announce plans to deliver on that just twelve months later with additional executed hotel developments across the continent," Tejas Shah, Hyatt's regional vice president of development for Africa, said in a statement. "There is huge potential for further growth in America, and our approach is to grow thoughtfully in markets where our guests are traveling."
Of Hyatt's expected nine new hotels, five are market entries:
Algeria: Hyatt Regency Algiers Airport (expected to open in Q1 2019)
Ethiopia: Hyatt Regency Addis Ababa (expected to open Q4 2018)
Kenya: Hyatt Place Nairobi/Westlands and Hyatt House Nairobi/Westlands (expected to open in 2020)
Senegal: Hyatt Centric Dakar (expected to open in Q1 2019)
In Africa's established markets, Hyatt is expanding its brand footprint in:
Cairo: Hyatt Regency Cairo West (expected to open in 2020) will mark the second Hyatt-branded hotel in Egypt and return of the Hyatt flag to Egypt's capital
Morocco: Park Hyatt Marrakech (expected to open in 2020) and Hyatt Regency Taghazout (expected to open in Q3 2019) will represent the third and fourth Hyatt-branded hotels in Morocco
Tanzania: Hyatt Regency Arusha (expected to open in mid-2019) will mark the third Hyatt-branded hotel in the country
As part of Hyatt's long-term plan to expand in sub-Saharan Africa, the company said it will continue to look for further opportunities across countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Mozambique, Namibia, Cameroon, Madagascar, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire.
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